At Headingley, Joe Root returned to the England captaincy not with a speech but with a result — an innings victory over Pakistan in three days that carried the weight of months of institutional grief. After Ben Stokes' retirement, a coach's dismissal, and a string of defeats, this was the kind of clean, uncomplicated win that allows a team to exhale. Whether it reveals England's true strength or merely Pakistan's present fragility is a question the coming weeks will answer.